Chapter 163 The dark shadow (this cat is biting its tail and rolling)
Rocks Town is located in the forest canyon west of Falkreath. It is very remote and has only one path connecting it to the outside. The people here rely on crops, deforestation and mining to make a living. They have lived here for generations and are just ordinary civilians. Work at sunrise, rest at sunset, and live an ordinary life.
But recently, this small town has been shrouded in a gloomy haze, making people breathless. It was as if the God of Death had enveloped this area, and all life seemed to disappear completely in front of it.
"Hey..."
Glancing at the dim sky outside, Old Bente sighed. It was clear that the sun had just set. Logically speaking, people had just finished work at this time. Normally, you would have seen the streets full of men who were finishing their work, carrying tools and planning to go home, as well as their wives and children waiting for them on the street. But now, this town is deserted, with almost no living people in sight.
To be honest, if you just stand at the door and look out, you will even have the illusion that you are the only living person in the whole village.
Maybe this is not an illusion, maybe when you wake up tomorrow morning, you will see that the whole village is empty, and there will even be no more living people in the world, and you will be the last person alive in the world, and then …Only death and destruction remain.
Thinking of this, Old Bente shuddered, then shook his head, throwing the terrifying fantasy behind him. Then he picked up the oil lamp and lit it, placed it on the table next to him, and picked up the book next to him - maybe reading would make him temporarily forget the nightmare that this town was currently experiencing.
Maybe... maybe when I wake up tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.
"Dong dong dong."
However, at this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door. Hearing the sound, Old Bente's hands softened in fright, and the book he just picked up fell to the ground.
"Yes, who is it?"
Soon, a voice came from outside.
"Sorry to bother you, I am a traveler and I have something to ask..."
Traveler?
After hearing this, Old Bente tiptoed to the door and carefully looked out from the gap. He saw a petite red-haired girl carrying a big bag and a hat standing at the door. She seemed troubled and uneasy.
"What's the matter?"
"It's like this. I've finished my rations. If possible, can you sell me some dry food? I have been to the inn, but it was closed..."
What a young girl.
After hearing the other party's answer, Old Bente hesitated and sighed slightly. Of course he knew the reason why the inn was closed, but it might be strange to travelers from far away.
Thinking of this, Old Bente stretched out his hand and gently opened the door a crack.
"So, miss, do you want..."
However, before Old Bente finished speaking, a big hand suddenly stretched out from the side and pressed on the door panel. Before Old Bente could react, he felt a huge force pushing the door panel open, and then he saw A tall black figure appeared in front of the girl, a pair of scarlet eyes flashing with a strange red light.
It's a devil! !
Seeing this scene, Old Bente opened his mouth to scream, but the opponent's big steel hand directly covered his mouth.
The next moment, this huge black figure bent over and came in from the door.
"Huh... It's not easy to finally find someone who doesn't pretend to be dead."
Duanmuhuai walked into the room in front of him almost half-bent, then raised his head and took a breath. The top of his head almost hit the ceiling. There is nothing we can do about it, after all, the houses in this era are almost all short. To be honest, Duanmuhuai has to keep his head down even now.
"Really, Mr. Knight, why do you have to use this method!"
At this moment, Gu Leiya also hurried in, then quickly closed the door, and then complained.
"There's nothing I can do. People won't let me in if they see me. If I don't use this method, I won't be able to find anyone."
"I think it would be better if Mr. Knight changed this outfit..."
Looking at Duanmu Huai, who was wearing black power armor and a skull-like helmet, Gu Leiya murmured her opinion.
"Then should I go back and paint the armor pink?"
"Uh......let's forget it."
After chatting casually with Gu Leya for a few words, Duanmuhuai turned to look at Old Bente again. At this moment, the latter was pale, sweating profusely, and his eyes were red. It's no wonder that such a huge black steel giant suddenly appeared and caught him in his hand. Old Bente even felt that the opponent could crush his head with just a slight force!
"Listen, I have something to ask you next. As long as you answer me obediently, I'll be fine. Don't worry, I'm not a devil or a demon. I'm just an adventurer. I came to you on the order of Lord Frederick. Investigating, do you understand what I mean? If so, just nod.”
“……………!!!”
Old Bente almost used all his strength to nod his head vigorously, and Duanmuhuai put him on the ground and let go of his hand.
Almost the next moment, Old Bente collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.
"Scared you? Sorry, because we didn't open the door no matter what we told others, so we had to use this method. I'm sorry."
"You, are you really the adventurers here to investigate?"
Old Bente took a breath and then came back to his senses. He looked at Duanmuhuai tremblingly, and then at Gu Leiya - I have to say, the gap between the two is too big!
"Yes, you also know that I have no reason to lie to you, uncle."
Duanmuhuai sat down on the floor and stared at old Bente.
"If we were really demons, we would have chopped you up and eaten you long ago. Why would we be talking nonsense to you here?"
"Wait, Lord Knight, your statement is not very good..."
Hearing Duanmuhuai's words, Guleya hurriedly wanted to say something, but Duanmuhuai just stretched out his hand, grabbed Guleya's tail, and then gently rubbed her tail belly. The next moment Guleya Ya just groaned, collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
"Okay, shut up the troublemakers."
After glancing at Gu Liya, Duanmuhuai retracted his gaze and looked at Old Bente.
"Don't mind telling me about what happened before."
"Of course, what do you want to know?"
Although looking at Duanmu Huai at this moment, Old Bente was still a little scared, but because of this, he felt that there might be hope this time. After all... the adventurers who came this time are so... extraordinary. Maybe they can really solve the problems facing this town?
"Let's start from the beginning. When did you notice something was abnormal? What were the symptoms?"
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you everything I know."
At this moment, Old Bente was holding back too much and nodded vigorously. Then he recalled a little before he spoke.
"If you ask me, at the very beginning... it should have been two months ago... I don't remember the specific day very clearly. I only remember that day, the carpenter Carl died..."
"Dead? How did you die?" "I don't know either."
Old Bente shook his head.
"It's strange to say that Carl went up the mountain to cut wood that day, and then he came back to have lunch and then rest. Then in the afternoon, we heard Carl's wife crying, saying that Carl was dead... We were all shocked at the time, After all, he was fine when he had lunch before, so why did he suddenly die..."
"What is the specific cause of death?"
"I don't know. Pastor Allen, who was in charge of taking care of the body at the time, couldn't tell. In short, there seemed to be no external injuries. I just suspected that it might have been poisoning or some other reason..."
Recalling what happened that day, Old Bente couldn't help but sigh.
"I also went when Carl was buried that night. When I looked at Carl lying in the coffin, it was as if he was asleep. To be honest, at that time I also doubted whether he was simply asleep, but he was indeed not. Breathing...and his body is as cold as ice, which is not human body temperature at all."
"Hmm..."
Duanmuhuai nodded.
"Then what?"
"Then... something strange happened."
Speaking of this, Old Bente also shuddered.
"It's strange to say that just two days later, Karl's wife also died. No one knew how she died. Her good friend went to visit her at the time, but no one answered the door. Looking from the window I saw her lying on the bed. Later, I asked everyone to open the door and broke in. She was already lying on the bed and was dead. No one knew how she died."
As he spoke, Old Bente sighed helplessly.
"At that time, everyone thought that Carl's wife was too sad and might have taken some poison and died, so she was buried quickly, but..."
"Let me guess, the next one to die will be that good friend, right?"
Duanmuhuai raised his eyebrows, and upon hearing Duanmuhuai's words, Gu Leiya next to him curled up into a ball. And Old Bente also nodded heavily.
"Yes, just after that, that good friend also died! At this time, some people in the town were beginning to feel uneasy. After all, three people died in a row in just a few days, and they all knew each other. Everyone felt something was wrong. , we also asked the pastor to look at it, but there was still no result. No one knew what was going on. As a result, the day after the good friend was buried, her mother told everyone that her daughter came back to see her at night. ... She said it was so cold in the cemetery and she wanted to come out..."
"Hey————!!"
At this moment, Gu Leiya was trembling even more. After all, this was not a ghost story, but something that really happened!
“And then my friend’s mother died too?”
"Yes......she died the day after she said these words."
"Then what?"
"Everyone was panicked at the time. After that, no one dared to go out. But after a few days, no one died, and everyone gradually relaxed and went back to work. However, this time, there was another news from the mine. News came that the miners were attacked by wild beasts. Only one of the five people who went down to the mine survived. However, after the miner was rescued, he said... What they encountered was not a wild beast at all, but the one who had been buried before. Carl them! ”
"Hmm..."
"At this time, no one dared to go into the mine, so they sent people to find the lord. Later, the lord did send people over and searched the mine, but nothing was found. The adults who led the team heard about Karl and the others. After the incident, I felt something was fishy, so I went to the cemetery and dug up their graves, and then everyone discovered..."
Recalling the scene at that time, Old Bente couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
"The bodies of Karl and the others are missing! And there is a hole under each coffin. It is obvious that they dug a tunnel through this hole to escape!"
"Under the coffin?"
Hearing this, Duanmu Huai's eyes flashed.
"Are you sure it's below? Not above?"
"It's down there, I'm sure of it."
Old Bente nodded vigorously.
"Everyone was scared at the time, and some people thought that Carl and the others had turned into ghouls, so at first the soldiers patrolled. Later, the soldiers went back without harvesting anything. We formed a patrol team of our own to patrol. The result..."
After saying this, Old Bente rolled up his sleeves, and a long scar was clearly visible on his arm.
"You were attacked?"
"Yes, they suddenly jumped out from the heavy fog. We didn't know what happened at all, and several people were dragged away. I reacted quickly and hid, otherwise I might have been dragged away too. However, after that, everyone did not dare to go out again, so they had to ask the lord to send someone again. I heard that the person leading the team this time was still the guard beside the lord, but... he was killed. ”
"Killed? Are you sure? Isn't the cause of death as unknown as before?"
"I just heard about it."
Old Bente shook his head.
"The guard who was in charge of guarding at the time said that it seemed that the man's throat was cut while he was sleeping, and the dagger was placed next to him..."
"That's it."
Hearing this, Duanmu Huai nodded. He had previously felt that Lord Frederick was a little unclear. Now it seems like this is more of a warning and a demonstration.
Otherwise, you wouldn't have deliberately placed the murder weapon at the crime scene, right?
"This is what happened."
At this time, Old Bente also finished telling what he knew. Duanmuhuai thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Okay, then let's go."
"Where to go?"
"No need to ask?"
Facing Gu Leiya's question, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.
"To the cemetery, of course."
"………………Eh??!!!"
(End of chapter)